History Literature / SufferTheChildren

But now Elizabeth has visited to the forbidden cliffs and discovered a secret in the cave above the sea--the secret of a lonely, betrayed, enraged little girl. Now Elizabeth is slowly changing. Now the village children have begun, one by one, to disappear. And the only one who knows the truth is a traumatized child who cannot speak.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Sarah's mental illness is described as "schizophrenia" by her doctors, a disorder that is not spontaneously triggered by trauma. She also displays symptoms that could be interpreted as HollywoodAutism (which would have manifested long before the age of eight) and PTSD (which at least would make more sense under the circumstances). It's a mishmash of vaguely creepy symptoms.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The disappearance of Anne Forager, which kicks off the book and which is set up as an inciting incident or a harbinger of things to come. Anne fails to come home one evening, then turns up several hours later disheveled but unable to explain where she was or what happened. Other characters bring it up throughout the book, but the truth is never resolved, nor does it have any significance in the story except as a minor in-universe red herring that makes local authorities wonder if Anne's mysterious five-hour disappearance is linked [[spoiler:to the other missing kids]]--and even ''that'' possibility is never explored.

* AdultFear: Plenty. Jack fears he might have done something terrible to his own daughter while black-out drunk. The townsfolk fear that a serial kidnapper is stalking their tiny peaceful town. And both Jack and Rose fear that Sarah's mental illness has progressed into something dangerous--not only might their daughter have harmed other children, but they might have to permanently institutionalize her.

TwentyMinutesIntoThePast, the few remaining Congers--AlcoholicParent Jack Conger, his ambitious and frustrated wife Rose, and their two daughters--live alone at Conger Point as their family slowly falls apart. A year ago, Jack did something terrible to to their younger daughter Sarah, something that he can't remember. Sarah has been [[TheVoiceless mute]] and [[TheMentallyDisturbed schizophrenic]] ever since. The lack of trust between Jack and Rose, coupled with Jack's increasing alcoholism and the difficulty of managing Sarah, have left the family full of resentments.

* CareerVersusMan / FamilyVersusCareer: Subverted, in that Jack is the only person with a problem with Rose being the family breadwinner, but he brings up almost every talking point related to both tropes in order to make Rose feel bad about it.

* CareerVersusMan/FamilyVersusCareer: Subverted, in that Jack is the only person with a problem with Rose being the family breadwinner, to the point that he blames his impotence on Rose "emasculating" him, rather than attributing it to his drinking. Everyone else takes it in stride, and Rose herself is very happy with her successful realtor's job.

TwentyMinutesIntoThePast, the few remaining Congers--AlcoholicParent Jack Conger, his wife Rose, and their two daughters--live alone at Conger Point as their family slowly falls apart. A year ago, Jack did something terrible to to their younger daughter Sarah, something that he can't remember. Sarah has been [[TheVoiceless mute]] and [[TheMentallyDisturbed schizophrenic]] ever since. The lack of trust between Jack and Rose, coupled with Jack's increasing alcoholism and the difficulty of managing Sarah, have left the family full of resentments.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The disappearance of Anne Forager, which kicks off the book and which is set up as an inciting incident or a harbinger of things to come. Anne fails to come home one evening, then turns up several hours later completely unharmed but unable to explain where she was or what happened. Other characters bring it up throughout the book, but the truth is never resolved, nor does it have any significance in the story except as a minor in-universe red herring that makes local authorities wonder if Anne's mysterious five-hour disappearance is linked [[spoiler:to the other missing kids]]--and even ''that'' possibility is never explored.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Sarah's mental illness is described as "schizophrenia" by her doctors, a disorder that is not spontaneously triggered by trauma. She also displays symptoms that could be interpreted as severe autism (which would have manifested long before the age of eight) and PTSD (which at least would make more sense under the circumstances). It's a mishmash of vaguely creepy symptoms.

* CreepyChild: Sarah

* LightFeminineDarkFeminine[=/=]TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Elizabeth is the Light Feminine Girlie Girl, with her silky blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, fair complexion, and classical beauty, who is always neatly dressed in skirts, sweaters, or pressed blouses. Sarah is the Dark Feminine Tomboy, described as having short dark hair, olive skin, and dark eyes, and an impish sort of charm. She usually wears jeans and flannel shirts because it's useless to expect her to keep nice clothes clean.

'''''Suffer The Children''''' is a 1977 horror novel by Creator/JohnSaul, his first published novel and the one that established his career (and for a while, his formula).

* DemonicPossession: The line is blurred how much of Elizabeth's behavior is caused by Beth actually possessing her and how much is just Elizabeth letting her inner psychopath off the chain.

* LightFeminineDarkFeminine[=/=]TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Elizabeth is the Light Feminine Girlie Girl, with her silky blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, fair complexion, and classical beauty, who is always neatly dressed in skirts, sweaters, or pressed blouses. Sarah is the Dark Feminine Tomboy, described as having short dark hair, olive skin, and dark eyes, and an impish sort of charm. She usually wears jeans and tee-shirts because it's useless to expect her to keep nice clothes clean.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Elizabeth [[spoiler:after killing all the prisoners in the cave.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The disappearance of Anne Forager, which kicks off the book and which seems to be an inciting incident or a harbinger of things to come, is never resolved.

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Outwardly, Elizabeth is remarkably patient and loving toward her disturbed sister, to the point that their parents defer to Elizabeth's authority in regards to Elizabeth's understanding of Sarah's behavior. In the cave, however, she unleashes her violent subconscious resentments. Meanwhile poor confused Sarah is simultaneously terrified of Elizabeth and deeply attached to her.

ExactlyExtyYearsAgo on Conger Point, little Beth Conger was [[RapeAsBackstory raped and murdered]] by her father, who promptly [[RedemptionEqualsDeath committed suicide]] out of shame and guilt...but not before concealing the child's body in a secret cave overlooking the sea. The scandal is permanently erased from the Conger family records and the cliffs around the cave become the subject of a HereditaryCurse, [[DontGoInTheWoods forbidden to all future generations of Congers]].

* RapeAsBackstory: Beth Conger's rape and murder kicks off the family curse, while in the more immediate past, Jack's apparent attempted rape of Sarah starts the family's unraveling.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The disappearance of Anne Forager, which kicks off the book and which seems to be an inciting incident or a harbinger of things to come, is never resolved.

* SympatheticAdulterer: Jack is completely impotent, but eventually has an affair with his sympathetic secretary. Both of them feel terrible about it, but Jack feels some relief that his problems are psychological, not physiological, and it eventually leads to reconciling with Rose.

ExactlyExtyYearsAgo on Conger Point, little Beth Conger was [[RapeAsBackstory raped and murdered]] by her father, who promptly [[RedemptionEqualsDeath committed suicide]] out of shame and guilt...but not before concealing the child's body in a secret cave overlooking the sea. The scandal is permanently erased from the Conger family records and the cliffs around the cave becomes the subject of a HereditaryCurse, [[DontGoInTheWoods forbidden to all future generations of Congers]].

But now Elizabeth has visited to the forbidden cliffs and discovered a secret in the cave above the sea--the secret of a lonely, betrayed, enraged little girl. Now Elizabeth is slowly change. Now the village children have begun, one by one, to disappear. And the only one who knows the truth is a traumatized child who cannot speak.

* ArtifactOfDoom: The mysterious portrait. The doll. The Ouija board. [[spoiler: The diary.]]